When a vehicle strikes an obstacle at a high rate of speed there is a significant chance of debris from the obstacle or of the entire obstacle being projected into and through the windshield and causing significant injury and possible death to the vehicle occupants. This is particularly a problem in rural areas where large wild animals are forced to cross roadways to migrate within their environment. Unfortunately, when a vehicle strikes an animal in the road way the animal is more often killed. When the unfortunate animal is a large animal, such as a moose or deer, a significant amount of damage is caused to the vehicle and the animal is often projected through the windshield severely injuring or killing the vehicle occupant(s).
The prior art includes numerous devices and systems of myriad of constructions that include raising a portion of a vehicle hood and/or the deployment of air bags to dampen in the impact of a pedestrian against the vehicle and hood when struck by a moving vehicle. However, heretofore there has been little attention given to protecting the vehicle occupants from struck objects being projected through the windshield by exteriorly shielding the windshield against impact.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that operates to shield the vehicle windshield against an object, such as a large animal, from being projected into the vehicle cabin through the windshield when the object is struck by the vehicle traveling at a speed sufficient to present a significant threat of injury to the vehicle occupants by the object.